More Upcoming Events

Friday, April 29th, 5-8 PM at Alonsoville, the upstairs bar of Alonso's in Roland Park, a portion of all sales go to ROAR for Autism and the Center for Autism and Related Disorders at the Kennedy Krieger Institute.

Victoria Gastro Pub, Columbia:

Tuesday May 17th, Bus Trip to Yards Brewery
Monday May 23rd, Victoria Day, Beer Club Trip Giveaway
Tuesday June 14th, Colorado Beer Dinner
Tuesday July 12th, Dogfish Head Beer Dinner

Hellas Restaurant & Lounge. Millersville:

Sunday May 15th at 5:30pm, Heavy Seas will be joining us, for a Tripel Cannon Pint Nite. We will be selling $4.50 pints of Loose Cannon IPA, Dubbel Cannon and Black Cannon IPA.  As always, your first purchase gets you a free Heavy Seas pint glass. Only one glass per customer while supplies last.

On Wednesday June 15th, Heavy Seas will be joining us again but this time it will be for a meal.  That's right, after a very successful Victory Beer Dinner in March, we will be hosting our 2nd beer dinner featuring Heavy Seas' great beer lineup.  And as an added treat, the owner of Clipper City Brewing Co., Hugh Sisson will be our guest speaker for the evening.  Reception starts at 6pm and the cost of the dinner is $55 which includes tax & gratuity.  Like the first dinner, you must reserve your seat in advance by either stopping by the restaurant, email or over the phone.  Please ask for either Mike Stavlas or Joey Marchiano.

Three upcoming events

First, tonight: Loose Cannon (with a promised surprise of sorts) at Metropolitan for their usual Thursday night firkin event.

Friday evening: in Federal Hill, at Muggsy's Mug House, 1236 Light Street (the former Sean Bolan's):

Muggsy's Mug House would like to invite all our friends to welcome 16 Mile Brewery into the Baltimore Area. Originally from Delaware, they just began distribution here this month and they want to introduce you to their 3 flagship styles Amber Sun Ale Old Court Ale and Blue's Golden Ale with a free tasting at the Mug House from 9pm till the kegs kick!! now that is an awesome deal.

Out in the remoter suburbs, provided they haven't dealt with tornado disruption by then: Firkin Fridays return to the DuClaw Brewing outlets:

We will be hosting a Firkin Friday at the Arundel Mills, Bel Air and Bowie DuClaw Brewing Company locations on April 29th, 2011 at 5pm. Each location will be serving a Firkin of Double Dry Hopped Black Lightning - Our electrifying American Black Ale, supercharged with a double dose of Chinook hops for a shockingly delicious variation on the newest addition to our staple brew line-up. Stop by your nearest DuClaw Brewing Company location, Friday, April 29th and give your taste buds a jolt!

Wooden You Know? Heavy Seas' Latest Barrel Experiment

Methinks these guys are trying for a lifetime membership in the Society for Preservation of Beers from the Wood.

Heavy Seas' latest wood-barrel-aging experiment is right in keeping with its pirate marketing theme: 75 barrels' worth of Plank I and Dubbel Cannon in five white oak rum barrels from Prichard's Distillery in Tennessee.  Expected release: mid-May (likely at the two festivals on May 14th, of course), and only locally in the Baltimore-DC region.

More on that beer here.

Heavy Seas also has a long list of upcoming events in May, including a beer dinner at Alexander's Tavern on May 4th,  the official release of Plank I at Max's on the 17th, and firkins and beer dinners in Mt. Airy, Frederick, and elsewhere.  Full list here.

City Paper Brew Fest: Almost Sold Out

As of a few minutes ago, the Baltimore City Paper reports "less than a hundred" tickets remain for this Saturday afternoon's Brew Fest on the Broadway square in Fells Point. They expect to sell out by the end of business Wednesday, and will not be selling tickets at the event itself.

You have been warned.

Tickets here.  (Or walk into the City Paper offices at 812 Park Avenue.)

If I ever get this bad, you have my permission to shoot me.....

......  but you must first videotape several minutes' worth of my being this bad as evidence.  (Yeah, that'll stop them.  I specifically said "videotape."  Let's see those guys try to find a working videotape camera these days, heh heh heh....)

Link here.

Frederick Beer Week Update

Things have been progressing for Frederick's inaugural Beer Week, as can be seen at their updated website.

Right now, they're still somewhat low-key with only thirteen events spread over the five days.  The big event for the week is the FBW Beer Fest on Saturday, May 14th at Stillpoint Farm, the hop-growing farm with a planned farmhouse brewery, northwest of Mount Airy.  Admission: $20 for 21+ (includes 4 beer tokens), $10 for designated drivers and 21-, Children under 13 free; with beer from Flying Dog, Brewer’s Alley, Barley and Hops, and Heavy Seas, and featuring live music by The Jug Band, The Polka Dots, and The Fieldhands, artisanal vendors, food, hay rides, and more.

Xtranormal: "Macro Beer S*cks!"

It had to happen.

Someone has taken Xtranormal, the text-to-movie "animation" site that has become the medium of the month for creating disparaging and insulting agenda-driven videos (likely the most famous so far: "I don't care; Obama is awesome...") .......

.... now has a video (apparently produced by Pacific Brew News) on the whole craft-versus-micro debate......



(Tip of the hat to Lew Bryson for the heads-up)

Washington Post Beer Madness 2011 Winner......

...... is none other than Flying Fish Exit 4 American Trippel.

Read all about it here.  The brackets, with popular votes, here.

Thoughts:  The contest is what it is, basically a run-off competition.  Arrange the brackets differently at the start, and the results would be different.  The public voting amounts to pretty much a popularity contest, with "local" beers such as Evolution garnering high numbers of votes over "out-of-town" competition regardless of the merits of the beers.  Side-by-side tasting is crucial to such judgment.

I would like to see what would happen if this run-off had been held with a bunch of BeerAdvocate.com or RateBeer.com regulars..........

TV Reminder: "Brewing On the Bay" on MPT Tonight

Maryland Public Television is showing Brewed on the Bay: Craft Beers of Maryland tonight at 8:30 pm.  The special 30-minute documentary, being broadcast as part of Chesapeake Bay Week on MPT, is co-sponsored by Baltimore Beer Week, Baltimore Beer Week, the Brewers Association of Maryland, Heavy Seas Beer, Maryland Homebrew, Trigger Agency, and The Wine Source--a sponsor list that would make an anti-corporate activist blanch and protest accordingly if this were commercial television. 


I watched a sneak preview during a Baltimore Beer Week meeting earlier this week, and I found it generally accurate (save for one howler of an interviewee-misidentification, corrected in time for broadcast) and as overwhelmingly sympathetic to the cause of craft beer as many other similar shows such as Beer Wars.  In other words, positively a cheerleading rally for the cause of good beer in Maryland.

In some locations you can receive MPT on more than one channel. For cable, check with your local company.  Maryland's transmitters:

• Annapolis Channel 22
• Salisbury Channel 28
• Baltimore Channel 67
• Hagerstown Channel 31
• Oakland Channel 36
• Frederick Channel 62

After its 8:30 PM showing, Brewed On the Bay airs again that night at 12:30 AM and. for videotapers, TiVo programming, or early risers, on Friday morning at 4 AM. The documentary is slated to be available on the Maryland Public Television website as streaming video at a later date, and DVDs will be available for purchase.

Bowie Baysox Beer Dinners Return

Don't like the beer selection, or the challenge of finding the ones you want, or the prices at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, but still want to get your beer and baseball?

The Bowie Baysox are doing a monthly series of beer dinners at their Bowie stadium:

Each month of the season also features a beer dinner in the climate-controlled Diamond View Restaurant. Tickets for the beer dinners are $41 per person, and include a two-hour all-you-can-eat buffet and three hour all-you-can-drink open bar. Tickets for the beer dinners must be ordered at least 48 hours before the event. For more information or to order tickets, fans may call DeFilippo at (301) 464-4855.
Complete schedule of 2011 Beer Dinners:

• Sat. April 16 - Festa d'Italia
• Thurs. May 12 - Mexican Cantina
• Wed. June 15 - Salute to the Irish
• Thurs. July 14 - American Classics
• Wed. Aug. 3 - Oktoberfest
• Thurs. Sept. 1 - Seafood Beach Party

It's just a little late for the Italian dinner, but mark your schedule accordingly for the rest of the year.  Capacity in the restaurant is limited, so reservations are necessary.